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November 4, 2008 NOTICE: EnSight 9 has NOT been released. We are still in final testing mode. The email notice about availability was incorrectly sent early. Release announcement is expected in about 7-14 days.
EnSight 9 Beta Release was introduced this week at CEIViz '08-the week of September 23-25, 2008. This beta release includes several new improvements to the powerful visualization product including: easier to use interface, dramatically cutting user time to reach common features; greater use of Python for advanced, developer-oriented customers; and added support for imported CAD files. We welcome all feedback on this latest release, please send all comments to
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. For an overview of EnSight 9 beta version, view Dr. Daniel Schikore's presentation, "EnSight 9".
Getting Started with EnSight 9 Tutorial
This tutorial is the first in a series of screencasts introducing the new features and user interaction capabilities of EnSight 9. The new functionality of the part select, part highlight, right mouse button menu, and the click-n-go features are demonstrated. Each of these new features allows an easier interaction with the software and faster, direct interaction with the most common tasks.
Getting Started with EnSight 9 Tutorial – Part 2
This tutorial is the second in a series of screencasts introducing the
new features and user interaction capabilities of EnSight 9. This
tutorial expands on the new methods and user action of streamline
creation/modification, image drag-n-drop and viewport modifications.
These additional capabilities provided to the user greatly simplifies
typical tasks and allows a quicker and even more interactive analysis
of the model results.
*EnSight 9 will be available November 2008.
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Ease of Use
This new version of EnSight will be much easier to use for those who
are interested in exploring their data interactively. It will have
twice as many functions tied to the computer's mouse buttons; part
highlighting, to show which parts are selected; and right-click menus
preloaded with context-sensitive menus allowing users to post-process
and visualize a model using only their mouse.
Having selected one or more parts, if you right-click on one of the parts in the current selection a menu pops up with relevant actions for the selected parts. Some actions modify the existing part attributes, such as color or visibility, while other use the selected parts as parents for new parts, such as clips or contours.
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 Python Integration
EnSight 9’s use and integration with Python, an open source computer
language, greatly expands the potential customized solutions that CEI
can develop to meet customer needs. Python greatly enhances EnSight for
advanced, developer-oriented customers. Customers appreciate the value
of an open, extensible application where plug-ins, importers,
exporters, customized user interfaces, and more can be added with
confidence and relative ease.
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 Added CAD support
EnSight 9 will have added support to import CAD files from SolidWorks®,
Unigraphics®, and Parasolid®, as well as the ability to export files
into JT Open format. For a list of current EnSight CAD file importers,
visit our CAD file importers webpage. EnSight CAD importers allow customers to access native CAD files without the use of the original CAD system.
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 Export to JT Format
While many users rely on our free companion tools, EnLiten and EnVideo, CEI has also worked to provide interoperability with other tools that are common in industry. This includes GIF, Flash, and AVI animations for images and VRML output for geometry. In EnSight 9 we have available a plug-in which converts EnSight geometry into a JT file, used by members of the JT consortium.
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 Extensibility
With EnSight 9 we introduce a 3rd generation reader API. In the past, the reader API has been driven by the EnSight data model. The first generation used a global coordinate array, while the 2nd generation had a coordinate array per-part. Each reader ends up being effectively a translator, and many readers have to duplicate the same functionality.
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 Click-n-Go Interaction
Some part types,
such as isosurfaces, clips, and contours, become “active” when the user
clicks on them. A “handle” appears that you can click and drag to
modify attributes such as isovalue, or contour levels. Where
appropriate, the value is displayed in the lower-left hand corner as
you move the mouse.
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Raising Limits - parts, variables, frames
In previous versions, internal limits have made it difficult to use EnSight for certain tasks. Assumptions that may be valid in CFD, may not apply in FEA. To make sure EnSight works for general purpose, we have removed limits on number of parts and variables. Effectively we have eliminated these limits, although current implementation imposes a limit of 65,000 parts and 10,000 variables.
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Scalability
The scalability of EnSight has always been a key feature. Server-of-servers capability was added over 8 years ago, early in the cluster computing era. EnSight 8.2 added automatic decomposition to make it even easier to use clusters for visualization.
In EnSight 9, we have completely redesigned our launch and communication infrastructure. We now have an MPI driver which allows you to use “mpirun” to launch SOS and servers on a cluster, and MPI communication within the cluster can provide improved performance over the TCP/IP communication.
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 Element Blanking Options
The updated element blanking feature allows you to peel away layers of elements using the selection tool. This feature now has options for inside/outside, and single-layer versus all layers.
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Reader Updates
EnSight 9 includes updates for a number of readers. CEI has recently licensed additional CAD formats which are now available, and updates have been made to the Exodus II, ABAQUS and FLUENT readers. Additional reader development will leverage the new API to support new formats and improve support for existing formats. Visit our interfaces web page for a full list of EnSight readers.
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 Support Tool
In order to make it easier to report problems or ask questions to the CEI Support staff, EnSight 9 has included a new support tool The tool will show you the information that it has about your license key, the OS, and hardware, and allow you to communicate directly with the support desk from within EnSight. Tabs on the support tool give you access to the on-line support pages, including knowledge-base and tutorials.
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Platforms
In the last few years the powerful commodity CPU’s and GPU’s have driven most customers to consolidate platforms to include: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and AIX servers.
   
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